Every other Undead: Disgusting humanoid bondage monster
Human Undead: Just some guy

You have far more faith in Tachibana than any of the rest of us, including Tachibana himself!

the peak of humanity is generic hot topic model

The absolute best part of the Why Does Hajime Look Like A Human story in this last episode is that they literally just did a story where Hajime runs into a man who looks just like him, and it's just no big deal. Like, it was the story directly before this two-parter.

Which, in retrospect, is maybe perfectly Inoue? To have the new showrunner do this important, plot-specific story about why Hajime looks like Hajime, and then right before that have Inoue do a version that's just *shrug emoji*.

Anyway, my headcanon is that Ryou had a story where he gave the Human Undead those pants, then met Hajime and recognized those pants. His confusion wasn't at seeing his exact duplicate, it was about being reunited with his jeans. He probably just assumed Hajime was the same shirtless dude he ran into last year!

It's been said!

You may not like it, but this is peak human performance.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20191127115244

What I always wondered is: How the heck did the Human Undead even win the previous Battle Fight? Did he just let everyone else kill eachother and then shiv the last person standing while they were celebrating their victory?

Peak Physical Performance. So strong he can warp the Joker from the inside out.

OK More I'm reading more I think Hajime being the Joker wasn't ALWAYS planned like I think he was always supposed to be connected to the Undead somehow but maybe not be the Joker (or the writers just didn't lookover what Innoue wrote which would be hilarious if it happened)

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 33

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: Hajime is losing his battle against himself! Kenzaki is getting trounced by everyone! And Tachibana is pretty sure this weird dude with a robot Undead who wants to either kill or protect Kenzaki (Or both! It's complicated!) is worth hearing out!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade33a.png

The Tachibana thing... I'm really hopeful that the next episode starts with him going Mistakes Were Made. I want him to have walked out of that skin-crawling meeting with Hirose's dad thinking he had absolutely backed the wrong horse. That scene, it's impossible for me to think Tachibana hasn't figured out he's being manipulated. (My favorite part of the entire episode is in the beginning, when Garren has the goddamn solid gold Jack Form balls to tell Blade that he's being manipulated. Tachibana! Is telling other people that they're blind to manipulation! Tachibana!!!!!) Literally everything about that sequence, up to and including the horrifying man-made monster U.N.D.E.A.D., is a warning that you are in the villain's lair. If the next episode starts with Tachibana just going Pobody's Nerfect and keeping Kenzaki captive so the next phase of Hirose's dad's plan can be enacted... bummmmmmmmmed ouuuuuuuut, man.

So, yeah, basically putting a pin in that for next time. Hoping for the best, ready for the worst.

The rest of this episode is good, but tough to really dig into. It's basically everyone and everything working against Kenzaki's confidence in saving Hajime. Tachibana fights him to a standstill and chides his naivete. (Again, Tachibana does this! To someone else!) King laughs at him for protecting humanity's inevitable destroyer. And Hajime is one more sweaty hour away from losing his grip on his hard-fought humanity. All Kenzaki has is his faith in other people.

And, y'know, it turns out that's enough? Kenzaki only ever really spends, like, two seconds wondering if he's doing the right thing. After getting launched off a cliff by King, he wakes up to the pain of his injuries and no clear path to victory. Hajime's a ticking timebomb, ready to become a monster that could kill them all. But, he hasn't yet, and Kenzaki knows that he's the only one who believes enough in Hajime to save him. So he picks himself up and gets on with it.

I really love that. I love that, again, it's so uncomplicated with Kenzaki. While Tachibana is looking for constant reassurances and explanations, Kenzaki doesn't need anything from Hajime. He's never asked Hajime to defend himself, to swear that he's a good person, that he's worthy of Kenzaki's trust. In fact, Hajime's basically done the opposite, consistently telling Kenzaki to leave him alone and to stop interrogating him. But Kenzaki never makes Hajime earn his trust. He sees Hajime, really sees him, and decides to trust him. It's unconditional, and it's heroic.

But it's also put about ten million targets on Kenzaki's back, making this episode a little overstuffed in threats. It's good in a way, a tense escalation of danger, but it's basically wall-to-wall Blade getting his ass kicked. (With, of course, the exception of Garren. Garren obviously gets his ass kicked.) It makes for a little bit of a grind to this episode, but it's also a first part, and that's the standard.

Not the deepest episode, maybe, but still a pretty fun installment. The Kenzaki/Hajime stuff is so good that I don't really mind the Tachibana stuff not working, and I didn't even realize until this sentence that Mutsuki didn't show up once in this episode. That's how good this one plot is!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade33b.png

Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: Hajime versus Mutsuki! (There he is!) Blade versus King! And the TV debut of Evolution King, a suit I think I basically forgot to talk about from the movie!

Hajime has so much going as a Joker that he can assume many forms, as per Joker card which can become any card, but to Kenzaki, what he sees is his personality, his heart, no matter which form he took; to Kenzaki, at least he's not a malicious Undead (though far from Shima) despite what he insists. Hajime's process of steady erosion of the Joker into a man and eventually more heroic (he's an anti-hero for now) is the standard arc of morally grey characters on KR franchise. And others doing something outside your consent and forcing you to do the same to "even" the odds? That'd be an annoying interaction that I've experienced, like someone telling a secret when I don't ask, yet they force you to tell them yours too.

The Rider franchise rule is that, there are earnest lead protagonists with the rest of the non-villainous Riders being murky. Kotaro claiming being skeptical is his speciality.... it's like me regarding similar kind of people. And he just picked one of the breakfasts and trailed off, leaving the others stranded. I don't think you have explained yet about the benefits of his outlook here, going out to save his friend isn't a... benefit?

Tachibana is going the "practical" way of solving the problem here by just stopping Joker. He seems to be similar on being skeptical as Kotaro, but unlike Kotaro he does have the Rider's power to act on it. Kotaro also at one point expressed disbelief on Undead not being malicious, pointing out that Undeads are humanity's enemies. Though still, for both Tachibana and Kotaro, with you saying he doesn't trust Undeads at all for what he's been going through, they fully accept Shima as exception, rather quickly, like Tachibana pointing out to Mutsuki that Shima isn't evil. Tachibana just jumping into the conclusion of killing Joker at the end, it was more coming from how Joker is potentially dangerous to all lives, it's a new information revealed to him here from the logins.

With this being seventh terrible decision, probably the difference here is that, Tachibana here wants to something good, but going on "less risky" way than Kenzaki's, where the others (up to ep. 15) are all him doing something for selfish motives (here he wasn't dismissal to Kenzaki, just explaning about Joker's truth, and that it's for Kenzaki's sake too). And with you pointing out "there's no other way" as terrible decision, it's the reason why his murkier way in approaching things (usually seen in various anti-heroes obviously) isn't always optimal, something unfortunately many audience agree with that Tachibana's way; saying that Kenzaki's way is foolish, naive, and risky to try approaching troubled individual that is may be the enemy, rather than just getting the job done by getting rid of that threat.

OK. I mean obviously, I asked again about that to clarify it more from you. Though for Kurona saying additional characteristics that revolves around school subjects.... I replied there that the inverse regarding school subjects (complete disinterest to it to bring it up anywhere) can be real too. Real is a probably the broadest definition; like I saw there are numerous something that isn't considered real on fiction that is actually real but probably considered not real only because they're not seen too much there.

Joker winning being intensely bad for him is a merely selfish competitive desire for King, he wants to win, and obviously he's doing anything to gain upper hand to his competitors. If he actually had more alturistic desire for his vendetta against Joker, then the Riders supporting Chalice would be actually hypocritical in his view, but he's not, he only wants to get rid of him as competitor, or possibly manipulating/using him as his pawn/doll for his own agendas.

So this i did not know until now but King is played by Makoto Kamijo, an actor who Ultraman fans, specifically Tiga fans, will recognize since he was Amui in Ultraman Tiga Gaiden, the one-shot side story set years after the Ultraman Tiga TV show where Daigo/Tiga's son Tsubasa goes back in time. He was also in episode 24 of Ultraman Cosmos and episode 10 of Ultra Q Dark Fantasy for those interested.

And now it’s time for the big one.

Joker


The Joker Undead is the true identity of Hajime Aikawa and the representative of death in the Battle Fight. He possesses power equivalent to all 4 Aces. When the Joker wins the Battle Fight by being the last Undead not sealed, the Stone of Sealing endlessly generates Darkroaches to exterminate all life on Earth

Rouse Card Details

* Suit: N/A
* Category: Joker
* Ability Name: N/A
* Card Name: Joker (ジョーカー)
* Consumption Points: N/A


https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20130625182022

It's also Shotaro Hidari's last-ditch desperation move when he's on his own -- though, of course, it pales in comparison to the power he has with Philip.

The benefit, to me, is about how the storytelling has a faster pace to it, as well as a more thrilling tone. Kenzaki's so happy to go rescue Hajime. He was frustrated before, but now it's all clear to him. That's a feeling that he passes along to the audience, where the conundrum of What To Do collapses into You Know What To Do. It's more fun to watch, I think.

It's mostly fear and self-doubt driving Tachibana, though, same as with almost all of his decision-making. Kenzaki's convinced that Hajime isn't a threat and, at worst, they can stop him if he becomes one. Tachibana is terrified they'll fail, that if they don't end Hajime now they'll never get another chance. The heartbreaking part of the (most recent) Blade/Garren fight is that, eventually, Kenzaki isn't asking Tachibana to believe in Hajime. Kenzaki's asking Tachibana to believe in Kenzaki, and it still isn't enough.

I like that the Suite for Joker is NA despite how it's so obviously a Heart.

I am totally drawing a blank right now for meaningful things to contribute to the discussion, so please make due with a belated "well, actually" about this below line of dialogue you found amusing earlier.

"Optimistic" here could've been translated just as easily to "naive", since the word Mukki is using, amai (甘い) is one of those tricky ones to nail down with a single specific definition. He's maybe more on the mark than you gave him credit for!

There have sincerely been times in the last couple three episodes where I've thought Mutsuki is probably living his best life. He was always so tortured when he was Tachibana's apprentice, sometimes in spite of Tachibana's tutelage, and sometimes because of it. Now, he's got a cool nightclub and a regrettable hat and a slick new spider earring... He just seems happier to me, in a way that's hard to root against. Who am I to tell this kid he'd be better off following Tachibana's example? I don't know if I'd ever want to have my soul consigned to darkness by a Spider monster from eternity, but, y'know, I don't know Mutsuki's truth. We all make choices to get through the day, and I don't get to make Mutsuki's choices.

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 34

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: Kenzaki struggles with keeping his friends safe! Hirose gives a stirring speech! And two outstanding fights cap off maybe the perfect episode of Blade!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade34a.png

Seriously, maybe a perfect episode of this show.

There's an idea they're playing with, how a hero's empathy is both strength and weakness, and they just let it roll out in every single scene, with every single Rider. They also give it great fights, clever dialogue, and a rousing finale. Flawless episode, I have to say.

And, it's an episode anchored by a definitive speech from Hirose to Kenzaki, so this thing's already got my number. I love the relationship between these two. He's the heart of the team, but she's the brains. Kenzaki's a very sweet boy, and it's easy for him to get confused, misled. (I mean, never to the degree of Tachibana, because that dude's pathological.) She's able to see how easily his caring for people can trip him up, and she's there to help him understand how he can best help others.

Kamen Rider is a franchise that, among other things, is about the value of empathy in a world of violence. Kamen Riders aren't heroic for being stronger, or deadlier. They aren't heroic for fighting monsters. They're heroic for caring about people. Kenzaki cares so much that it can be used against him. Tachibana tells him he's a danger to everyone the longer he remains a Kamen Rider, that U.N.D.E.A.D. is just going to keep coming after him, putting people at risk. It's Kenzaki's responsibility, according to Tachibana. Kenzaki is the one who's causing distress.

It's bullshit. It's a villain move. It makes Kenzaki feel terrible for defending himself. It's an abuser's move, gaslighting the victim into feeling at fault for what the abuser is doing. But it only works because Kenzaki feels so responsible for people's safety that he's unable to hang around them if he thinks they could be hurt. He'll do anything to protect people, even if it means cutting all ties to his friends. So he runs away from home, ready for a life of solitude, separate from the people he cares about. But that empathy that's been weaponized against him by Tachibana, it's not just a one way street. A Kamen Rider fights because they care about people. But people care about a Kamen Rider so they can fight.

It's a really beautiful speech Hirose gives, and one I don't think I'd've been able to put into words before. (All-time classic episode for Hirose, from the point in the beginning when she's like Kenzaki Why Did We Have To Lug All Your Shit Around, to the end where Tachibana's warnings to stay away from Kenzaki are met with a stern You Are Out Of Your Damn Mind If You Think I'm Staying Home.) She's disappointed in Kenzaki for leaving, mad at him for thinking he'd be able to fight on his own, because he's never fought on his own. The people he cares about support him so that he can fight for them, with their strength added to his. Blade is, naturally, a weapon that everyone who believes in Kenzaki wields through him. People need Kenzaki to protect them, but Kenzaki needs those people to give him the strength to protect them.

It's an idea that just keeps drilling down through the episode. Mutsuki loses to Hajime because Hajime finally understands that he's fighting to get back to the people he loves, while Mutsuki thinks he'll be more powerful by pretending he doesn't care about Nozomi. (Some terrific dialogue in that fight scene, too. Hajime's whole I Don't Need To Be A Monster To Whip Your Ass thing, or Mutsuki running him down by calling him a card. Great stuff, perfect energy.) Seeing Hajime finally, at the very edge of losing his humanity, feel that connection to the people who have been rooting for him... god, it's like a series finale. Such a massively cathartic moment, watching him win a fight because he cared more about people than the human he was fighting.

Even King gets in on the thematic action, being bested thanks to Hirose and Kotaro rallying people to pin down a monster so Blade could finish it off. The King vs Blade fight... first off, what is the fight music that's playing over this one? I thought it was a blast, some high-octane guitar work. But, after that, man, a well-deserved win for Blade, with him having so much faith in his friends, in everyone, that he didn't even need cards to beat King. The camerawork sold the turn in the fight, with Blade's punches into camera transitioning from futile to forceful, the intensity of Kenzaki's faith overpowering King's defenses. And then, to finish it, just punching that Seal card straight into King's chest. Beautiful fight, iconic finish.

A really, really great episode of Kamen Rider Blade. Just, man, exploring the ways that empathy can get mixed up with guilt, or used by horrible people to inflict self-doubt, or how if you believe in people they'll believe in you... I love it. I love taking an idea that central to Kamen Rider, and just showcasing it for an episode. Literally nothing makes me happier. A+ episode.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade34b.png

Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: A new girl! Mutsuki gets his ass kicked again! And maybe I'll remember to talk about King Form!

Hirose's dad name is Yoshito.... gotta differentiate him with his daughter cuz Tachibana also calls him Hirose-san. But for this one I can't deny, Tachibana is being manipulated again by Yoshito, and him complying out of desperation for others' sake (Kenzaki's) instead of his sake in first 15 episodes; the Rider stuff that will destroy the wielder (himself in ep. 1-15, Kenzaki for here). So to sum it up here, Tachibana has animosity towards Hajime... but not towards Yoshito, which would mean to him Hajime is a manipolator, but not Yoshito. Not to mention, for this sequence, with Yoshito explaining about his plan of seeking immortality for humans, that's textbook extremist plan.

Garren's Jack Form using his finisher and Blade's Jack Form tanking it?! (and explained by the scientists of this being Kenzaki's speciality). And then Tachibana falling from heights due to Jack Form flying and get hit by an attack, yet he de-henshin'ed before he hit the ground and still survived! It means Kenzaki actually wins here btw. A glimpse of Hajime's Joker form is seen that he has a green head. And as I said, your species is unimportant for Kenzaki, the only one that is important to him is your personality (non-racist!), which made him believe in Hajime as he only looked at Hajime's relatively non-malicious state compared to other Undeads except Shima (But don't ignore his chaotic, taciturn nature though! Don't want those heroic ones to be blind). And this time, for Hajime telling Kenzaki to leave him alone, even he slipped that to Amane, so probably it's not Hajime's normal state (not saying he's approachable, but here he becomes even more aggressive than usual), and for not touching it's probably relating to his Joker form or something.

What time is it?

https://youtu.be/mPMevLugOck

No new Rouse Cards today, but I think I’ll point out that the entirely golden King Form is unique to Kenzaki. If Garren or Leangle were to attain a King Form, it wouldn’t be as gold, now would it store the non-King cards on their body. But Leangle doesn’t get one (as you’d expect by now) and Tachibana only gets one in the S.I.C saga.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20190202184842

Yeeees... I've said before that I didn't remember too much about Blade to this day, mostly all just the biggest highlights in my mind. The thing that has stuck with me all these years ever since the first time I saw it though, was Blade episode 34, everything from Kenzaki and Hirose tracking down King, all the way until the next episode preview.

Kenzaki declaring himself a Kamen Rider and transforming right there and then to challenge King. It would maybe have a bit more impact if this was ever a show where having a secret identity was a thing, but I still think it's cool. No, the scene really starts with Blade and King standing apart from each other, preparing to face off while the guitar shreds it.

The ensuing fight is what I maybe consider the pinnacle of triumphant moments in this franchise? Blade losing his sword but then punching his way to victory because his determination is just that strong, dual wielding both his and his foe's weapons, and topped off by the epic drop slash he does.

And it doesn't end there! Both King and Trial D have been making Kenzaki's life really hard for a while now, and he pummels them both in this episode! He achieves an incredible new form, some exposition from chairman-man to let us know that this form is ultra-extra-impossibly-special because Kenzaki's just that awesome, and he swats aside the ugly robot before prepping his gigantic shiny new sword...

So I think I said before that 'Kakusei' is one of my favourite insert songs in Rider? Funny thing is after I finished Blade, whenever I think back to the scene of Blade beating up King, for the longest time I misremembered the music that was playing at the time and mistakenly attributed Kakusei to it instead of Take it a try. I mean, I think the version in my mind is better anyway because Kakusei rocks and Take it a try is supposed to be Chalice's song anyway.

Yes.

Like, you have no idea how much I love this one. I don't think final form debuts come much better than this, and it's pretty specifically because King Form is basically just a cherry on top of an episode that would be a huge winner anyway.

All the thematic stuff, it's great, obviously, and you covered all that, but oh my god that fight between King and Blade. Top 10 Kamen Rider moments material, right there. Every aspect of it is just perfect. First of all, and I think this will be hard to appreciate for a lot of people nowadays, but that "I'm a Kamen Rider!" from Kenzaki? I'm pretty sure that was the first time since 1989 the lead of a Kamen Rider series had said that name with that level of pride. The only Heisei show to use the term at all prior to this was Ryuki, which deliberately mangled the meaning as part of its story.

Here, Blade says that, and the show rightfully treats it as synonymous with being a hero. Of course Kenzaki is going to stand against King to protect people, and of course, he'd never give up even if loses all his powers. And he doesn't give up, and he doesn't lose, and it's one of the most hype things I've ever seen. Blade legitimately pummels a late-game boss character while handicapped, and in the process puts to shame every Rider before and after who needed a new form prior to defeating the big scary enemy.

It's just an intensely satisfying scene, and a fantastic episode for Kenzaki. Even Hajime's fight against Mukki, you know, he's able to avoid becoming Joker there in large part due to what Kenzaki has done for him, both literally by giving him that Jack card (makes the bike episodes almost worth it!), and just, like, emotionally, as someone who refuses to stop believing he can be more than just another monster. It really is like you said. Pretty much the perfect episode.

Thos SIC figures... I'm always on the fence as to whether I think they look dumb, or if they look so dumb they're awesome. Really fine line!

I don't think it's as much about the secret identity here for Kenzaki, as it is Can You Really Fight Around People. Tachibana's made him think of everyone else as a weakness, something too fragile to be around. But now that Hirose has reminded him that his connection to people is his strength, he's confident in fighting King in front of everyone.

Such a great episode.

It's such a cliche, the hero overcoming the villain due to inner strength, but, man, I 100% bought it in this episode. All of the last episode was Tightening The Screws, giving Kenzaki no outs and a limitless number of threats. So that moment in this one where Hirose tells him he'll never be alone, that he is fighting for everyone who can't... it's so earned, you know? It's not just some late-battle cheat, it's what two full episodes have been spent building towards. And I really love that he just keeps punching King. It's not a dazzling new move, it's just determination and belief, and it's enough.

Such a great episode!

Have I mentioned how much I love Kenzaki yet? Because I really do.

Kenzaki's the best, and while we're on the subject, it's worth noting that there's something that makes him particularly special among the Heisei Kamen Riders. Seiji Takaiwa has said Blade was the hardest Rider he played to do suit acting for. Why?

Because Kenzaki isn't special.

This sounds familiar enough he might have said it in several places over the years, but there's an interview promoting Heisei Generations Forever I recently stumbled upon where he elaborates that, because Kenzaki's character concept was "a normal young man who earns a wage being employed as a Kamen Rider by an organization", it was difficult to get a grip on how to get that across in his performance. He considers Blade the only Kamen Rider he wasn't able to create an immediately identifiable special trait for.

The fact that this is an interview from all the way when Zi-O was on the air really makes two things clear. One is that Kenzaki's normalcy is so remarkable, it stands out to one of the guys who played him even a decade and a half later, and the other is that Takaiwa-san is seriously just the best to put so much thought into how to convey personality with only his body language. I know I started off by saying Kenzaki is the best, but I mean, they're both pretty great, is the point!

Lol and behold Kenzaki's "Oh I'm a badass moment" normally in a scenario like this (MC needs to defeat a villain beyond everything) he get's a new form by the power of Toy contract or "Friendship is Magic" or Both and wins here he has to defeat a villain who could probably defeat Hajime by HIMSELF using nothing but his bare hands I mean he does give an awe inspiring speech about what it means to be a hero in the process but you get the idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zpW2mdf4iI

this will be your queue something BADASS is about to happen (sucks everytime we get a song like this from now on it's usually associated with the ultimate form the only 2 exceptions being in Gaim and Build) if your talking about King Form's debut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7P95VoY8uQ we've heard the Letimoif throughout the show but this remix just SCREAMS ultimate form

I thought Leangle got one in SIC I'll have to go check ok pictures of it exists(if you google it) but it never happened https://i.redd.it/sx5fptrqabk21.jpg

He's a very sweet boy!

I can see a little bit of his Faiz performance, the reliance on punches and crowding the opponent, rather than methodical strikes that disassemble somebody. It says Power Without Training to me, and that's both of those guys.

The thing that his Blade performance has that's new, though, is a tendency to under-commit, maybe? There's a hesitation to Blade that isn't deliberation, it's, like, wondering if he just screwed up. Kenzaki's someone who knows failure, doubts himself, doesn't think he has that many friends... it makes sense that Blade would fight with all this baggage keeping him from maximum effectiveness. It works to the storytelling's advantage, though, because it gives the suit actor a real clear higher gear to go into for those big hero moments.

Or I'm overanalyzing! Wouldn't be the first time!

I mean, if you don't think he earned that victory over King... I'm not sure I'd agree? I'd love to hear what you think would've improved that sequence.

Same thing for King Form ,which is something he has to slowly assemble over the entire series. Feels like a culmination of the various Undead battles to me, not just some handwaved Exciting New Form You Can Buy In Stores.

it Feels like Kiwami Arms/Grand Zi-O done right my problem is in Kiwami Arms Kouta didn't use ALL OF THE Arms and what not not to mention it's just obtained as the plot would demand a new form to defeat the overlords(KAchidoki Arms should have been Kouta's final form cause it symbolizes his resolve to protect those who can't) and Zi-O couldn't interact with all the riders (TBF We know why he couldn't)

Okay. I can't speak to Zi-O (check back with me in late 2021), but, sure, Gaim had a basket of fruit powers and he didn't really use them all. I can't argue with the fact that, in Kamen Rider, multi-power upgrades tend to focus on not that many powers.

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 35

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: Kenzaki gets extorted into a date! Hajime goes Full Joker! And two different ladies help us understand our Riders better, because that is the point of ladies on this show and that's not problematic at all!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade35a.png

Honestly, I don't think it's that problematic. The point of every supporting and guest character on this show is to get us to understand our Riders better, so it's not a huge deal if that's all Umi and Twomi contribute. It's just a little funny, to have two new women show up and immediately their story is What Does This Tell Us About The Men. On the one hand, that's the genre, but on the other hand... sort-of not a great look!

You know what is a great look, though? King Form. (How about that segue! Straight from highlighting the difficult gender politics and iffy portrayals of women to the fancy new suit! I am a man talking about women in media and I am killing it!) I think it's pretty great. I usually don't love the whole A Bunch Of Pictures take on suit upgrades (not a fan of Ghost Grateful), but I think the engraved look works pretty well for it. The gold is typically gorgeous, with that bright blue center giving perfect visual balance. I like the heft of it, too. It's a suit that looks imposing without being really ornate or cumbersome. It just looks beefy, powerful. I really like it. Maybe my favorite of the three Blade suits?

I liked Joker's look, as well. It's one I'd seen in the Blade movie, but hadn't talked about that one, either. (I don't know that I talked about any of the suits and... that's what the movies are for! New suits! And I just skipped talking about all of them! Why am I allowed to post on this site?!) It looks properly creepy, with the rictus grin and transparent visor and dangling hooks (little Js!) and asymmetry and inhuman screaming. It's a lot! I like it, though. It feels like a monster that monsters would be scared of!

Getting back to the ladies of the episode, though, I dug them both. They're both doing slightly similar things, interrogating a Rider about their motivations, but they're doing it in vastly different ways.

Umi's the main character for this episode, and she's... I feel like I'll have a better take on her after next episode. In this one, she's a very antagonistic character. She saves Kenzaki, sort-of, but mostly holds him hostage while needling his supposed heroism. It's actually a neat deconstruction of Kenzaki's usual I'm Just Doing My Job attitude, as we get to see what it'd actually look like if he was punching a clock to protect people. He's grumpy and bored in this one, which, yeah, probably what most people look like at some point in their jobs. Kenzaki's not that guy normally, though, and the more he stops resenting Umi's tactics and starts trying to figure out her viewpoint, the more he looks like the very sweet boy we're used to.

They've got some good chemistry, Umi and Kenzaki. It's obviously very charming and funny to see her bossing him around, a superhero who doesn't know how to outwit a teenage girl. (Although, teenage girls are no joke! I'd probably give them the edge over any superhero you can name!) The bit at the end, though, where she tells her origin story and it's basically Kenzaki's origin story, that's where I felt like Umi would come into focus better next time. Here, she's an agent of chaos. But that story she tells, it's Kenzaki's origin, it's just that the lesson she learned was that no one cares. Kenzaki learned empathy, a need to keep anyone from suffering the way he did. Umi learned anger, selfishness, distrust. It's going to be real interesting to see how Kenzaki tries to help her in the next episode.

Also, hey, there's another lady telling a Kamen Rider that his motivations are bullshit! It's Twomi, and I apologize in advance for not having a better name for her. Some of it is that she's the other lady in this episode doing Umi's interrogation schtick, some of it is that I just completely drew a blank on how to shorthand describe her. I like her character! It's just, there's not really a quick hook to her yet.

She's great, though, in her scenes with Mutsuki. He's so full of himself now, gloriously overconfident. In the same way Hajime is using every ounce of his strength to keep his Joker form at bay and failing, it's like that with Mutsuki and smirking. He can't stop luxuriating in his power, his cool card collection (why they aren't in Deck Protectors is beyond me), his henchmen... and then here comes Twomi, kicking his ass and telling him that he's got nowhere near enough resolve to actually be a threat to Joker. She's someone who (apparently) worked incredibly hard to get to the level she's at, and next to her Mutsuki looks like the clueless teenager he'll always be. It's a brief scene, but I liked how she dealt with Mutsuki. Very fun new energy for that kid to deal with.

Speaking of energy, the directing in this one was... some ups, some downs. Overall, I thought it was really impressive for the ways it was regularly finding fun ways to shoot scenes. There's that Henshin Vision shot, where we start from Mutsuki's POV and then run through the Henshin into Leangle punching an Undead. That shot... amazing. So clever. There's a dialogue scene from near the beginning of the episode that had a swell sideways dolly that starts a beat before Hirose gets up and walks to the computer, like she's following the camera. There's that shot through the U.N.D.E.A.D. chamber window on Hirose's dad, then a pan to Tachibana through the other window, literally and figuratively boxed-in. But then there's a half-dozen shaky camera shots, or extreme close ups, or swinging camera moves. It's like, not every shot needs to be a bravura one! It can be too much! Just look at the old opening credits!

This was a fun episode. The new women are compelling, if a little too designed around their male counterparts. (I totally get if this seems like a ridiculous criticism. They're good characters, and they're here to expand our view of the stars of the show. That is what every guest star should do! There's just this little itch in my brain that makes me a little sad that that's pretty much all they are in this episode? That two new women show up and they only seem to exist to comment on the men. I don't know. Probably a non-problem, but it's one I couldn't feel great about.) Tachibana is getting more ridiculous as the episodes go by. It's nice to see that he's also always been secretly seething with jealousy at Kenzaki this whole time, because Tachibana needed one more emotional problem. Things are getting a little more tense, a little less reset to status quo at the end of a story. Good storytelling, fun episodes.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade35b.png

Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: Joker versus Chalice! Amane in danger! And Battle Fight has begun! No jokes! That all looks awesome!

Let's not kid ourselves, women in this franchise have pretty consistently only ever served that role you just described. It's just that sometimes it's even more egregious than others...

I remember this episode pretty well if only because it comes directly after the giant hype-fest that was 34. I get that we need to relax a bit after that big double climax, but it was still a bit surreal for me to go straight from Kenzaki blowing up the monster in his shiny new form, to Kenzaki being bossed around by this completely new person who I had no reason to believe wasn't just a one-off. It's definitely cute, but I think I spent most of the episode asking myself 'okay but why. wasnt blade in the middle of something'.

The other character new character is a more intriguing, and maybe part of that is just that it's kinda fun to see Mutsuki at this point get beaten up. I'd say he's due to learn some humility at this point, and he probably wasn't going to learn it from any of our familiar cast (certainly not Tachibana!).

This is a complete aside but thinking back, I don't like just how often the episodes in Blade end in cliffhangers?! That's mainly because when I want to go back and catch some of the highlights I remember, I gotta go switch between two episodes. This very mild inconvenience that the show has no reason to account for is unacceptable!! zero out of spade ten.

And the fact that it's both of the new women is what made it stick out to me.

Actually, I'm maybe a little frustrated at finding it frustrating? It's really difficult for me to articulate exactly why this situation bothers me. It's two new characters that are thematically integrated into the narrative in compelling ways! That is basically a home run for a writer! And, like, Umi is, in almost every way that matters, exactly the same as Tachibana's old frenemy Kiryu. They're both people who show up as dark reflections of a Rider, someone who went a different way from the hero. And I don't remember giving Kiryu any shit for being a dude who comes in and only comments on the hero!

I don't know. There's a thing about Umi and Twomi that... is it just the dearth of well-rounded female characters? I don't know. I don't know why I keep thinking about this!

At least we've mostly moved away from the Faiz convention of using the previous episode's final minutes as the pre-credit sequence of the next episode. Now it's the previous episode's final minutes and maybe twenty seconds of new footage. Progress!

If it helps, not a day goes by where I'm not bemoaning that dearth as well! I guess until then, I'll have to just project a lot on Poppy and the like. (watch out for when i travel back in time and rewrite the show so that she becomes the new president of genmcorp.)

The show expects you to love Blade so much that you won't mind watching the same scene multiple times! (I mean I guess that's not completely untrue.)

Poppy's amazing, and I'd watch that version of the show. I just hope Burgermon is okay!

I feel like, with Umi and Twomi... it's this weird thing where the very attribute that make them valuable to the narrative (thematically related to the leads) is also weirdly a bummer. They're really interesting characters, but then that interest is refocused on the male leads. It's like I got tricked somehow, where I thought I was getting a story about Umi, but I'm really getting a story about Kenzaki.

Except, that's a good thing! I like Kenzaki! I like stories about Kenzaki! This is a show about Kenzaki! I definitely should not be getting a story about Umi!

Am I projecting too much? Are these good, strong characters that I'm reacting negatively to for reasons that aren't their fault? Am I holding them to too high of a standard specifically because the show has so few female characters of narrative value? (I mean, who's the last woman to be introduced on this show before them, Nozomi? Meet-Cute? It's been a minute!) Should I just shut the hell up and give the show a little breathing room to define the characters better before flagellating it for its shortcomings?

I would very much like to be able to define this feeling better so I can stop feeling it!

All the Bugsters come together as happy mascots for the company to bring smiles to children everywhere (except Graphite because can you even imagine).

The characters can certainly still be well-executed for their purposes, but I also think it's fair for you to be disappointed because it is such a consistent issue, so your feelings on the matter will bubble up again every now and then. Nothing wrong with expressing how you feel with each plot point as they come up! Even if you end up changing your mind later on, I think it's neat to see how your thoughts on the matter vary in real-time.

I don't know, some kids are very happy to destroy monsters through brutal, time-consuming combat. I think Graphite could feel good about that. I mean, you show Graphite a game like Monster Hunter? That is basically his dream, right?

This is another episode by Satoshi Morota, and, yeah, even just briefly skimming through the episode, it's apparent how overly creative this one maybe gets in spots!

I definitely remember finding this one a weird change of gears after King Form's debut, but since I'd just be repeating FreshToku, I'll instead point out to everyone that this is the episode where Leangle declares "This is how the Strongest Rider fights" like the ultimate cool guy after using Chalice's cards to do a Spinning Dance, blissfully unaware that just makes it sound like Chalice is the strongest Rider. 高校生のくせに見事な中二病だね。:p

They also don't actually show him scanning the cards, which is apparently a nod to the DX Leangle Rouzer's inability to actually make those sounds. It's pretty hilarious to think the show's desire to keep consistent with the merch it was shilling led to yet more embarrassment for Mukki, as he awkwardly has to announce his finishing move by himself here.

Oh, man, dude; if it wasn't for your absolutely correct opinions on King Form and Joker I would be even more mad with your suit opinions now than I ever was

I can’t believe FS pointed out an example of “Leangle being a loser” that I missed. I’m still calling dibs on the ultimate example though.

Anyway, on with the Rouse Card Information Kiosk.

Gel Jellyfish

An Undead who can turn into water.

* Suit: Club
* Category: 7
* Ability Name: GEL
* Card Name: Gel Jellyfish (ゲル・ジェリーフィッシュ Geru Jerīfisshu)
* Consumption Points: FP 1400

I actually wrote out two for this episode, but then I read your review and realised one hasn’t shown up yet. It’s still on hold though.